Samsung Smart TVs Will Use Windows Azure for Cloud

Samsung announced today that it has chosen Windows Azure as the software on which its Smart TV cloud infrastructure will run. The company claims that the choice will reduce its operating costs and increase its scalability. Samsung said in an official statement today that it "achieved a tenfold cost reduction" by moving its infrastructure to the cloud.

"After extensive testing, Windows Azure is the only cloud offering that met our exacting conditions," said a Samsung official.

What those exacting conditions are is unknown, though Samsung stated that Azure met its reliability requirements as well as its "mission-critical needs." Also, Samsung emphasized that the Microsoft's cloud platform is flexible enough to meet Samsung's scalability requirements, which are high because of a planned expansion of its Smart TV service.

Samsung claimed in its statement today that it is seeing growing demand for its Smart TVs. Most of the company's Smart TV traffic comes from Asia, though it has begun marketing smart TVs in the U.S.

"Samsung Electronics' Smart TV is taking advantage of the unique capabilities of Windows Azure," said Bob Kelly, corporate vice president of Windows Azure at Microsoft. "Windows Azure gives Samsung the ability to focus on its business rather than having its technical team deal with problem-solving and troubleshooting issues."